Bravo’s big food show “Top Chef” has signed up four major on-screen integrated sponsors for the show’s 11th season.
Toyota, Kraft Foods, Chase Sapphire Preferred and Cigna will be multi-screen sponsors. Toyota will return as a major top integrated advertiser; the automotive maker has been with the show since the start. Kraft, Chase and Cigna are new sponsors to the show this season.
Among other integration elements, Toyota will sponsor interactive technology during a competition series where fans can judge the competition in real time with results shown on-air during the broadcast.
Kraft’s Philadelphia Cream Cheese will be integrated on-air and online with former contestants Casey Thompson and Chris Jacobson making a meal with the cream cheese brand. Viewers will vote for the best dish.
One of Chase’s integrations: cardholders will be given the opportunity to redeem reward points for VIP access to attend and dine during the “Top Chef” Restaurant Wars episode.
Cigna will sponsor a new original Web series “Padma’s Picks,” where “Top Chef” host Padma Lakshmi gives one New Orleans chefs the opportunity to cook their way onto the on-air competition.
Bravo says out of 173 prime-time shows monitored by Nielsen over the past year, “Top Chef” was the No. 1 “program on cable for in-show integration effectiveness,” delivering higher sponsor recall versus the TV average.